/*
 * Copyright � 2002-2011 the original author or authors.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

using Spring.Core.IO;
using Spring.Objects.Events;
using Spring.Objects.Factory;

namespace Spring.Context;

/// <summary>
/// The central interface to Spring.NET's IoC container.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// <p>
/// <see cref="Spring.Context.IApplicationContext"/> implementations
/// provide:
/// <list type="bullet">
/// <item>
/// <description>
/// Object factory functionality inherited from the
/// <see cref="Spring.Objects.Factory.IListableObjectFactory"/>
/// and <see cref="Spring.Objects.Factory.IHierarchicalObjectFactory"/>
/// interfaces.
/// </description>
/// </item>
/// <item>
/// <description>
/// The ability to resolve messages, supporting internationalization.
/// Inherited from the <see cref="Spring.Context.IMessageSource"/>
/// interface.
/// </description>
/// </item>
/// <item>
/// <description>
/// The ability to load file resources in a generic fashion.
/// Inherited from the <see cref="Spring.Core.IO.IResourceLoader"/>
/// interface.
/// </description>
/// </item>
/// <item>
/// <description>
/// Acts an an event registry for supporting loosely coupled eventing
/// between objecs. Inherited from the
/// <see cref="Spring.Objects.Events.IEventRegistry"/> interface.
/// </description>
/// </item>
/// <item>
/// <description>
/// The ability to raise events related to the context lifecycle. Inherited
/// from the <see cref="Spring.Context.IApplicationEventPublisher"/>
/// interface.
/// </description>
/// </item>
/// <item>
/// <description>
/// Inheritance from a parent context. Definitions in a descendant context
/// will always take priority.
/// </description>
/// </item>
/// </list>
/// </p>
/// <p>
/// In addition to standard object factory lifecycle capabilities,
/// <see cref="Spring.Context.IApplicationContext"/> implementations need
/// to detect
/// <see cref="Spring.Context.IApplicationContextAware"/>,
/// <see cref="Spring.Objects.Events.IEventRegistryAware"/>, and
/// <see cref="Spring.Context.IMessageSourceAware"/> objects and supply
/// their attendant dependencies accordingly.
/// </p>
/// <p>
/// This interface is the central client interface in Spring.NET's IoC
/// container implementation. As such it does inherit a quite sizeable
/// number of interfaces; implementations are strongly encouraged to use
/// composition to satisfy each of the inherited interfaces (where
/// appropriate of course).
/// </p>
/// </remarks>
/// <author>Rod Johnson</author>
/// <author>Juergen Hoeller</author>
/// <author>Mark Pollack (.NET)</author>
/// <seealso cref="Spring.Context.Support.AbstractApplicationContext"/>
/// <seealso cref="Spring.Context.Support.XmlApplicationContext"/>
/// <seealso cref="Spring.Context.Support.DelegatingMessageSource"/>
/// <seealso cref="Spring.Objects.Factory.Support.DefaultListableObjectFactory"/>
public interface IApplicationContext
    : IListableObjectFactory, IHierarchicalObjectFactory, IMessageSource,
        IApplicationEventPublisher, IResourceLoader, IEventRegistry, IDisposable
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Raised in response to an application context event.
    /// </summary>
    event ApplicationEventHandler ContextEvent;

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns the date and time this context was loaded.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <p>
    /// This is to be set immediately after an 
    /// <see cref="Spring.Context.IApplicationContext"/> has been
    /// instantiated and its configuration has been loaded. Implementations
    /// are permitted to update this value if the context is reset or
    /// refreshed in some way.
    /// </p>
    /// </remarks>
    /// <returns>
    /// The <see cref="System.DateTime"/> representing when this context
    /// was loaded.
    /// </returns>
    /// <seealso cref="Spring.Context.IConfigurableApplicationContext.Refresh"/>
    DateTime StartupDate { get; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the parent context, or <see langword="null"/> if there is no
    /// parent context.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <p>
    /// If the parent context is <see langword="null"/>, then this context
    /// is the root of any context hierarchy.
    /// </p>
    /// </remarks>
    /// <returns>
    /// The parent context, or <see langword="null"/>  if there is no
    /// parent.
    /// </returns>
    IApplicationContext ParentContext { get; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets and sets a name for this context.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>
    /// A name for this context.
    /// </returns>
    string Name { get; set; }
}